| 27 June 2004 | Sunday | 08 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
New Sindh cabinet
Relief for pensioners
Mr Zafarullah Khan Jamali's resignation as prime minister is unexpected only to the extent that after days of speculation he had categorically declared only on Friday night that he was staying on. But apparently groups within the establishment that wanted him out were too powerful to resist. So we have gone through another charade in our long, crisis-ridden political life.
Mr Jamali was hailed as prime minister less than two years ago by those who have now removed him. In his case, what is particularly noteworthy is that there was no public demand for his ouster. Nor had the opposition demanded his head; indeed, they were supportive of him throughout the past week or so, clearly realizing that a civilian was to be backed in a tussle with the military.
Mr Jamali was handpicked as a person who was likely to remain loyal to the peculiar neither-fish-nor-fowl system devised by the military, and he did nothing during his career as chief executive to disabuse us of this notion. He may not have unduly exerted himself to work for the welfare of the people, but neither had he acted in any dangerous or damaging way against the public interest. There is no evidence either of Mr Jamali having done a Junejo on General Musharraf. So, where and what was the problem?
If there was dissatisfaction within the PML, it was not expressed at the cadre level, but by some of the party's leaders. So perhaps there was conflict within the PML, which is of course no surprise at all given the facade of forced unity imposed on it from above or the freewheeling politics of many of its stalwarts. With this constraint in mind, will anyone else prove to be an abler PM (Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is the nominated successor)? Can anyone in fact? That is the basic question.
It's not changing people and moving pawns from one square to another that can resolve the contradictions that dog us. The more we tinker with governance and institutions, the greater the mess we will create. Apolitical methods of dealing with political issues have been tried before, and the results are there before us: most of the vexed problems that assail us on both the domestic and foreign fronts are our own creation.
Yet we persist in our folly. By deliberately weakening and distorting democratic structures, we encourage fissiparous tendencies and disregard for law and order. The present culture of violence is also a direct outcome of reliance on coercion and authoritarianism as a way of governance.
A small example of this is provided by the decision of the Sindh administration (also under a 'new face') to ban some MMA leaders from entering the province because of their planned "peace march" in Karachi today. The wisdom of seeking to hold a public rally in the city's tense situation may be questioned, but imposing Section 144 and outlawing the leader of the opposition (chosen with the government's own blessings) from entering the city may create fresh trouble.
There will be no coherence in governance unless we are ready to substitute policies for personal caprice and reliance on representative institutions for in-house coteries. How many prime ministers and chief ministers will we shuffle around till we get the right combination? What next after Mr Jamali's exit?
New Sindh cabinet
With the swearing-in of 12 Sindh ministers on Friday, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim's team is in place. All of them were in the cabinet of Mr Ali Mohammad Mahar, who resigned earlier this month after a sudden deterioration in the law and order situation in Karachi last month. One wishes there were some new faces, so one could expect a change in policies for the better.
Six of the new ministers belong to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, five to the PML, and one to the PPP-Patriot. This way, the cabinet is a balanced one and has elected representatives from both urban and rural Sindh. This is the key point for all to understand, for a Sindh government which is aware of the people's problems in rural as well as urban areas alone can deliver.
Sindh's economic problems have been compounded by the province's ethnic mix. The violence that has become endemic here stems basically from the failure to resolve Sindh's burgeoning economic problems. The trek from villages to the cities, especially Karachi, has put a severe strain on such utilities as water, power, sanitation and transport. Half of Karachi's population - a city of over 10 million - lives in slums, while crime and acts of terrorism have added to a sense of acute insecurity among the people.
These problems cannot be solved overnight, nor is there a quick-fix solution. But a beginning has to be made if the new cabinet is address these gargantuan problems with any hope of success. Its first and foremost task should be to create a positive image for itself - that of a well-knit team. This is essential, for every now and then we hear of "fissures" in the cabinet, or some faction threatening to leave.
The induction of 12 more ministers raises their strength to 14. One hopes there will be no additions to this number. A small team can do a better job than a large one whose performance is hampered by political compromises and group interests. This holds true as much for the other three provinces as for the federal government.
Relief for pensioners
Relief given to retired persons and senior citizens in the budget is a welcome step. The raising of pensions from between eight to 16 per cent on an ad-hoc basis and the setting up of a committee to give recommendations for further relief to pensioners within six months are encouraging. As are the introduction of a special savings scheme for pensioners and widows. The government hopes to raise Rs. 36 billion from this scheme. Equally laudable is the proposal to give breathing space to certain categories of borrowers from the House Building Finance Corporation.
It is estimated that 38,000 borrowers, mostly retired persons, widows and low-income earners will benefit from the decision to freeze the amount owed to the HBFC as of July 2004 and allow for repayment in equal instalments. All these steps seek to provide a degree of relief to some disadvantaged sections of society at a time when inflation is biting and the prices of wheat, fuel and power have risen.
At the same time, the decision to transform the National Savings Centres into an autonomous corporation run on commercial lines can be seen as a measure that will help pensioners and widows in the longer term. By allowing the proposed company to diversify its business and invest in mutual funds, the government will be opening up a new avenue for investment that will ensure returns that are higher than what is being offered now in government savings schemes.
If handled properly, the new savings corporation will be able to replace the National Savings Certificates as a secure and reasonably paying mode of investment. One hopes that through this corporation, people are offered an avenue of investment that gives them a reasonable return on their investment. If this proves a success, the anxiety and uncertainty that pensioners and widows have faced in recent years because of the falling rates of return on their investment will finally come to an end.